ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday issued notices to federal investigators and summoned them in a personal capacity on a petition filed by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill seeking to determine if physical custody was necessary to complete criminal cases.
The order was issued by a three-member bench comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, after it took the petition moved by senior counsel Barrister Salman Safdar on Gill’s behalf.
PTI chairman Imran Khan’s chief of staff has been nominated as an accused in the first information report (FIR) registered against him for allegedly inciting mutiny within the armed forces during an interview with a TV channel.
Gill was taken into custody under Sections 34 (common intention), 109 (abetment), 120 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 121 (waging war against state), 124-A (sedition), 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempt to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 153 (provoking to cause riot), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
A day after his arrest, an Islamabad district and sessions court had granted police a two-day physical remand of the PTI leader. Subsequently, the police had multiple times sought an extension in the remand from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) but the requests were turned down.
On August 16, the IHC had referred the matter back to the trial court and later that day, a judicial magistrate had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand in police custody. However, it was only two hours after the court’s ruling that Islamabad police were able to take Gill’s custody.
During the course of the investigation, PTI leaders, including Imran, alleged that Gill had been subjected to torture and abuse in police custody and contended the demand for Gill’s physical remand based on these claims.
Gill also accused police of physically and mentally torturing him and orchestrating a “fake medical checkup” when his “body was full of bruises”. He further alleged that he was stripped and thrown into a room where he was beaten and kicked for three nights after his arrest on August 9.
In the most recent development, the IHC on Thursday finally granted post-arrest bail to the PTI leader and ordered his release against surety bonds of Rs500,000.